Songs and posters
by SeptimusMagistos
Summary: A dual-perspective story about Alex and Juanita deepening their relationship.
1. Alex

I claim no ownership of the Naked Brothers Band or its characters.

"…And the sun rose for me…"

Alex paused the movie. The screen froze on a scene showing him and Juanita sitting on a luxurious couch with clouds floating in the background. Juanita looked incredibly girly with her hair down and wearing a dress. It was weird to think of Juanita as girly. At the time it had freaked him out. But through the lens of time, it didn't seem as bad. It was actually…rather cute?

The next part of the scene would show Juanita giving him a kick. She was a lot more enthusiastic about that than she'd been about the other idea-which had been kissing him. Enthusiastic enough to make him wince at the memory, certainly.

"Hey, Alex," he heard suddenly.

"Hi, Nat."

"You're watching that _again_?"

"Hey, it' sour movie. If I don't watch it over and over again, who will?"

"Are you sure that's the only reason you're watching it?" Nat was smirking.

"What else could it be?" asked Alex. It was a weak bluff, but he could always hope.

"Well, you seem to be paying special attention to that scene. It wouldn't happen to be because of your co-star, would it?"

"I don't know what you mean." Alex tried to bluff again.

"You dork," Nat commented kindly.

Alex blushed heavily and bolted out of the room.

Half an hour later he was on his skateboard, with his protective gear donned. His trick finished, Alex dismounted next to his friend, the aforementioned Juanita. She looked very different from the one he'd seen on his TV screen. Not girly at all-boyish even. Strangely, she looked just as good-in some ways even better, since the skateboarding outfit seemed more true to who she was.

Juanita was happily talking about his trick. Alex enjoyed the moment. While he loved being a rock star, sometimes it was pleasant just to be an anonymous kid doing something active. But when he spotted a pause in Juanita's speech, he decided to do something daring.

"Hey, Juanita?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you want to come to a party we're having this Friday? We'll be celebrating our new song." It took some effort to get the words out without sounding unnecessarily nervous.

"Sure." Juanita didn't seem half as nervous.

The days before the party flew by quickly. He met Juanita several times in-between, but they didn't talk about anything serious again. They just had fun like usual. But it always felt like there was something on hold. And then the day of the party finally arrived.

Juanita's appearance was torturing Alex. There was no other way to describe it. She was once again wearing a dress and had her hair tied with pink and blue ribbons. She did not look at all like the spunky friend he saw just a day ago. Instead she drifted through the room like a beautiful maiden. Alex looked down on the floor, ,knowing that if he dared to look straight at Juanita, he would without a doubt act in a ridiculous manner.

"Hey, Alex!" the universe was determined to torture him.

"Hi," he slowly brought his eyes upwards, letting them torturously travel over her figure. His cheeks exploded into a scarlet blush.

"What is _wrong_ with you?" Juanita demanded.

"No…nothing." It was taking all of Alex's willpower just to resist his natural instinct of crawling underneath the nearest chair and covering his face with his palms in hopes that the whole thing would just disappear. But he really didn't want to have Juanita remember him as the guy who hid under the furniture anymore than she already did.

"It's just…hard to handle. You look so…girly."

"So what do you care?"

"I don't." a blatant lie.

"Yeah you do. Now what's the matter with you?" Juanita wouldn't let the matter go.

"I…you…you look really…pretty." Alex managed to spit out.

He held his breath in horror. It's not that he never said anything like that before. Heck, he once called Juanita his true love. But he could hear his own tone, and it would be very clear to anyone that this wasn't something as simple as that. What would Juanita think?

"You…you look handsome too."

Oh. Apparently she would respond in kind. Alex breathed out again. But he felt too embarrassed to utter another word. So instead he quietly walked outside, leading Juanita behind him.

The night air felt calm and refreshing compared with the craziness already ensuing in the apartment and the darkness hid their embarrassment. Looking at Juanita's obscured form, Alex slowly started to feel comfortable again. In time he even found the confidence to reach out and grasp Juanita's hand.

"This is weird," Juanita said.

"Nice weird though, right?" Alex asked.

"Yeah. I mean, I feel strange, but also happy."

Alex leaned over nervously. When he met no resistance, he allowed their lips to brush lightly. At least that was the plan. But due to the shock of the sensation what was supposed to be a brief kiss lasted for what felt like a long time, though it was probably only several seconds.

"Wow."

"Yeah, wow."

After a minute or so, Alex smiled.

"Do you know, I still feel like skating with you," he informed Juanita.

"Yeah. I still feel like skating with you too."

Alex grinned. It seemed that their friendship hadn't been muddied by the kiss at all. He still had his friend, and now she was something more than that too, and that made him very happy.


	2. Juanita

I claim no ownership of the Naked Brothers Band or its characters.

It all started with a poster. Someone somewhere decided to take a picture of Alex Wolf standing up with his drumsticks spread out and his mouth open and his curls flying around. And then someone else took that picture , enlarged it, put it on some flashy background, and printed about a million copies. And then one of them managed to make its way into the possession of a girl named Juanita.

If it had stopped there, our story would be much shorter. But, as we established, the poster was only the beginning. The first notable thing about it was that Juanita could not quite remember how she'd decided to get it. One moment she saw it, the next moment she was stepping back to admire it spread out on her bedroom wall.

But, cool as it was, she was forced to call herself to account. Why, precisely, did she wasn't an image of Alex in her room? With some horror she realized that if Alex were to ever see it, she might very well die of embarrassment.

Luckily, at that point rationalization kicked in. It was okay. It was a really good poster. And Alex was a really good drummer. And besides, he was her friend. So it didn't have to be weird that she had a poster of him.

So why was it that all she could think about was how cute he looked on the poster? Aargh! It seemed designed to bring out every one of his adorable features. Probably it was. Someone out there looked at the picture and decided it was perfect for tugging at girls' heartstrings and right now Juanita wanted to strangle that person.

She already had to sit at school and listen to the other girls gush about Alex all day long. She had to hear them talk about his lush curls and how they'd like to run their hands through them and that made her remember touching his hair on occasion and color the memory with a hint of discomfort. And on some days it made her realize she would have plenty of other chances to see him, and that on one of these occasions she could come up with an excuse to feel his hair more thoroughly, and then she would blush terribly and have to breathe a little too heavily.

And it wouldn't stop there, either. They would talk about how his teeth were _so_ pearly white (they were), how his skin was _so_ smooth (totally), and how much they'd like to kiss him. (Yuck! Right?)

Soon after purchasing the poster Juanita acquired some new habits. Whenever she changed her clothes, for example, she would make sure to cover poster-Alex's eyes. She knew very well it was irrational; she didn't believe Alex had some mystical ability to gaze through the eyes of his images. (He would almost certainly have bragged about it). She just…felt more comfortable that way.

Another, more pleasant, habit was in spotting other poster-worthy moments. Not just in Alex-but mostly in him. He made it rather easy with the way he would sometimes randomly strike a pose, as if expecting the whole world to be watching. But she got just as much mileage out of the times when he wasn't even trying, like the way he looked with his cheek resting on his hand and his eyes half-closed, yet still attentive. Juanita could think of quite a few girls who would have liked a picture of _that_.

One such moment came at the skate park. Alex had just successfully finished one of his better tricks and was standing there proudly with his skateboard tucked under his arm. Juanita complemented him on his trick while staring at him happily. Suddenly, Alex broke her reverie.

"Hey, Juanita?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you want to come to a party we're having this Friday? We'll be celebrating our new song."

"Sure." She breathed out. It came out naturally, without thought.

The thoughts came later, when she was getting ready. Thoughts of a party with Alex in it and the opportunities it presented. She wasn't quite sure what those opportunities were or whether she wanted to take advantage of them, but she was vaguely excited. So she decided to do something different and set aside her tomboy ways for the evening. Instead she tried to make herself as girly as possible.

Once she reached the party it was pretty clear that she succeeded. Yet in some ways she felt uncomfortable. This was all new to her. The dress felt mildly alien, creating a sensation of not quite belonging.

Seeking out what comfort she could, Juanita found Alex. He at least looked the same as ever. The sight of him made her feel much more centered.

"Hey, Alex!" she said happily.

"Hi." Alex didn't seem as relaxed as usual. In fact, he was…blushing?

"What is _wrong_ with you?" she asked, concerned.

"No…nothing."

But if it was really nothing, then why was he still blushing and stuttering? Something was clearly wrong. She was about to demand an explanation when he willingly supplied one.

"It's just…hard to handle. You look so…girly."

Juanita's eyes went wide. Sure, that was the effect she intended, but it was hard to believe he actually noticed.

"So what do you care?" she asked and then immediately kicked herself. That sounded so mean!

"I don't!"

Juanita wasn't fooled. She knew her friend and he was clearly trying to hide something.

"Yeah you do. Now what's the matter with you?" she needed to know if she was making him uncomfortable.

"I…you…you look really…pretty."

"Oh." Now it was Juanita's turn to blush. This was considerably more than she expected. She was used to Alex doing things like trying to put an arm around her, but not to something like this. The genuine expression of affection left her feeling deeply confused. But one thing she was sure of.

"You…you look handsome too."

Juanita waited for a reaction. She definitely did not expect Alex to just get up and walk away. She followed him angrily, but then realized he wasn't walking away from her and indeed seemed to expect her to come with him. So she did.

Outside, Juanita's face burned. Every single moment seemed worthy of a thousand posters. Yes, even despite the darkness. Stray light made things just about distinguishable. She looked at Alex carefully. Suddenly, she felt her hand being squeezed. That made her feel faint again.

"This is weird," Juanita informed Alex. She was definitely feeling something new here.

"Nice weird though, right?"

"Yeah. I mean, I feel strange, but also happy," she reassured him.

Seconds went by. And then she noticed Alex slowly leaning over towards her. Time was, her response might have been to counter this move with a headlock. But right now she just wished he'd hurry up.

Their lips locked quietly and Juanita felt a flood of warm happiness enter her brain. When the kiss broke, a smile creeped onto her lips.

"Wow."

"Yeah, wow."

They sat in the dark quietly. The night sounds seemed like a soft song to Juanita. Then, Alex suddenly said something odd.

"Do you know, I still feel like skating with you."

Where had that come from? Juanita honestly wasn't sure. Straining her mind, she tried to imagine it. Oh, he was probably talking about the old worry over their friendship.

"Yeah. I still feel like skating with you too," she assured him. It wasn't a problem for her at all.

Juanita's happiness was interrupted when she suddenly spotted a camera. Her eyes widened with mortification that came with the knowledge that her first kiss would be broadcast on national TV. People she'd never even heard of would watch her kissing Alex.

As quickly as it came, the horror vanished. Aside from the embarrassment, she was really fun with this. Once, she thought she was too young to date. Now, she didn't. Alex was her…boyfriend. And she was his…girlfriend. And if that meant they could kiss, then so be it.

And if someone made a poster of _that_ moment, she would be sure to get one.


End file.
